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celoplyr

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. We made a 10:30 flight once with ease, but I realized later that it was New Years Day, and so not many people wanted a taxi, the airport was quiet (people were trying to take another day or two of vacation), our ship was way undersold (during Omicron wave) and we had first class tickets (which only means checking a bag is easier). Now, that was with my parents who are slow and like to be at the airport early. We probably got to the gate around 9am, and I was bored. But, for current conditions, I have no idea.
  2. Bumper cars are a family favorite. My family is 40-75 in age, so I would absolutely recommend them even if you don't have young kids with you. 270 is one of my favorite places, and we often go there for breakfast and to steal pound cake and keep it in our rooms.
  3. I have actively tried to give away our D drinks before and everyone either had their own or the drink package. We use ~3 per day and are given 12. I actually have some questions. I'm cruising on a ship next year with no Freestyle machine, and this is a problem in my house. Would they give away soda water for free at the bars, or do they charge for that? I'm thinking to bring the diet gingerale packets that you can put in water, and they taste a lot better with carbonation. (we only drink diet caffeine free sodas, so the bar ones are really limited in comparison, and it's a long cruise, 12 sodas per person is still less than we drink)
  4. If he wants non caffeinated sodas, the freestyle package is amazing (I only drink diet caffeine free drinks). Obviously, they have the caffeinated ones too. Options include ginger ale (with flavors), fanta, sprite, cream soda, root beer, coke, coke zero and some lemonades... and that's off the top of my head. I will always get the soda package on a ship with the machines, and will not get the soda package if there's no machines. Raspberry ginger ale, coke with lime and fanta strawberry or fanta peach are my favorites. Oh and cream soda with peach too...
  5. I heard that Icon and Oasis are built in different ship yards, so that another Icon would just be at the end of the line, but another Oasis isn't competing with the Icon class. I could be wrong, and hopefully if I am, someone will correct me.
  6. We had my mom medically disembark from the ship on our last cruise (although we were in port when the decision was made). My dad was able to leave with her, no problem. I was a bit more of a problem (different reservation) but they let me off as well. She spent 8 days in the hospital. What I remember is the number of other passengers who wanted to make fun of our situation to us. We were day 4 of a 13 day cruise, and everyone wanted to know if our suitcases had just gotten there or "why on earth you'd possibly be leaving". No one offered to help. ON the other hand, at the hospital, we met another cruising family who lost their husband, so I'll deal with idiots for that. The draw for the cruise was the Holy Land, and war broke out while we were in the hospital, so we even didn't lose out on anything the others didn't. And mom is fine now.
  7. We actually got off the ship before Israel was in their war, and things changed so suddenly!! I am big on policies and procedures, which is why I wrote this out, hopefully they can get a better protocol started. It's really scary anywhere when someone is that sick, so being in an unfamiliar area makes it even worse. Big picture, as long as it ends fine, it's ok, but I know my family has some trauma afterwards (mom is swearing she will never travel again, dad still can't sleep through the night, etc...)
  8. I wanted to give my experience on the medical disembarkation that we experienced on our last cruise, just in case any one else has to undergo this in the future. Long story short: my mom is fine. So, we were on a 13 day cruise from Rome to the Holy Land, my parents and I. On day 3, mom started getting sick with what looked like a nasty cold. We were at sea. On day 4, in Athens, I went on a tour to the Acropolis, and mom decided that she needed to go to medical. Medical did a work up, and after a bit of a back and forth, they ended up calling her an ambulance, and she and my father went to the ER. I was still on the Acropolis, so had to rush back to the ship. We had to pack (no steward help, some people say that they will help, no one contacted us to offer assistance of any kind), and then we wheeled all of our luggage downstairs to guest services. 30 minutes in that line (again, no joke, and only 2 people in front of us) with 30 minutes while they figured out that "surprise, the whole family will get off, not just 2 of 3 people". Mom and Dad had their disembarkation cards because of medical, but I was a surprise. It was also a surprise to them that I wanted a refund on my prepaid activities (shore excursions, spa, internet, etc). I just called today, and they still haven't refunded everything! The number they gave us for the port authority didn't work, so we had to stand in line at guest services, and I think they had to call a supervisor in. Once we got our card, we went down to the gangway and they took our seapass cards and our disembarkation card. We were told guest services would call us a taxi, they did not (and we got right royally ripped off by the taxi driver). After the fact, they called my mom's emergency contact to see if everything was ok, and they tried to call us. However, the number to call back is just the normal line, so the abnormal procedures seem to befuddle them. We left items in the room, that we discovered once we got off the ship and had a moment to breathe, those have not been recovered yet. I filled out both lost luggage (who said they wouldn't do a sweep of the room, we would have to list every item individually if we wanted it back) and the care team (who did say they would call our steward and have him sweep the room, but we haven't heard back yet). No assistance was given for if we wanted to go back to the ship (which we thought we might have, but mom ended up being in the hospital for too long, and you know, war and stuff). For the timing, we got off the ship on the 5th, Israel went into chaos on the 7th. When we left, I was devastated to miss it. Later, I was ok with knowing I wouldn't have made it anyways. One thing I was most discouraged about was the number of passengers who made a comment. We were two people, carrying off hastily packed suitcases for a 2 week cruise for 3 people (so 3 big bags, 3 carry on bags, and a lot of personal items) and a lot of people made comments like "getting off so soon?" "did you just get your luggage?". Obviously, to me, we were in a crisis. No one offered to help, they just decided to judge us for getting off the ship. It was probably 20-30 people, so not a small number. Dad thought the help that RCL gave was very minimal, and he had expected basically someone to guide us to get off the ship and help (since we were sent by the RCL medical staff to the hospital, they knew what was going on) and instead we were just on our own. Could it have been worse? Yes. We met someone in the hotel by the hospital where the spouse had passed away. Mom got great care, and is doing fine, and needed the hospital rather than the ship. We weren't in tel Aviv when we got off. It's just money (probably about 35k, who knows how much travel insurance would pay, but probably most of it). The hospital was a mess, but workable (only one person visiting at a time, which meant that one was alone in greece, not in the most touristy neighborhood, hotel was really sketchy, but no more than most European hotels, etc). And we got home.
  9. Outside is usually fine, but my mom thought that my Dad hated Christmas for years until they figured it out. He was flat on his back, sick for weeks. I'm not much better. I get allergic in the outside and sneeze (masks may also help) but inside would just kill us.
  10. they look so REAL on the video. Did you love the trip? Would you recommend it? We are on the fence- it would be our first river cruise. Thanks for answering the question!
  11. I was watching a video on the Viking Christmas market cruises, and I saw a ton of greenery decorating the ship. My family and I are highly allergic to live Christmas trees, etc. Viking claims that it's synthetic, but can anyone confirm that? I'd hate to get on the ship and then be sick for 2 weeks.
  12. The October 2nd still is, I wonder if the Oct 15th is just sold out.
  13. I figured it was Fuerte Amador that was the problem. I saw on the NCL board that it was a nightmare trying to board there, and I haven't seen evidence it's any better now.
  14. That train ride (we didn't do it through RCL) was worth every penny, and we would do it again in a heart beat. We've also done the drive (over 30 years ago!) and while it's amazing too, the train was better. We went a day early to have some time in Seward (which, again, we visited over 30 years ago, so we wanted to see how it changed) but unless you have that nostalgia, I'd just take it the day of, and then do the luggage transfer yourself.
  15. I also got this, and was so excited (and booked flights last month). Now it's a real let down, we won't fly to Panama just to do ports we've done from Miami. I was super excited about Costa Rica AND the Canal. I also feel like I booked this trip in early 2022, so it's like 18 months of excitement for it to cancel 8 months ahead of time. I was even getting my uncle to come along, so my mom could see him for their birthdays (he was going to be 80!)
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